Hildegard Of Bigen Analysis
Hildegard of Bigen: Diverging from the Norm
Hildegard of Bigen was a writer and composer born in 1098. While known for her writings, she was also heavily involved in the Church starting from an early age. Unlike the majority of the women who lived during the middle ages, she was in a rare position of power. She was able to advise many of the Church’s leaders. In addition, she taught many nuns and guided them through the teaching of Christianity.[1]
The sequence was a genre of music that was prevalent during the eleventh and twelveth century. As a part of the mass, sequences were performed after the Alleluia and before the Gospel. During the early eleventh century, the text of a sequence was derived from the Alleluia, but new texts were starting to be written. The music of a sequence is syllabic. Each sentence in the text is paired off with the exception of the first sentence. This makes the form of the music ABBCC or double verse. [2]
Looking at Victimae paschal laudes, a sequence that is performed in Easter, I noticed it follows all the rules of a typical eleventh century sequence. It follows the AABBCC…. form that a sequence follows. As far as text setting, Victimae paschal laudes also contains paired …show more content…
sentences with the first and last sentence being unpaired. The ranges of the notes are not very high. Each section does not go higher than an octave (section 1: D to A, section 2: A to D, section 3: A to A, section 4: D to D) as shown in example 1. Most of the music is in conjunct motion, or in stepwise direction. This piece does contain instances of disjunct motion.
Example 1: Victimae paschal laudes, verse 2 and 3
As a composer in the eleventh century, Hildegard of Bingen’s music was more thoroughly composed in comparison with other composers during that time. She was not afraid to cross the boundaries of composition during that time. Her sequences did not follow any rhyme schemes and when performed contained variations of the sequence’s double verse pattern. While most sequences were syllabic, Hildegard sequences are largely melismatic containing a multitude of notes for each syllable. In addition to the rhyme schemes, her sequences contained leaps that were greater the norm (seconds and thirds). In Columba Aspexit, as shown in Example 2, there are leaps of fourths and fifths. Example 2: Hildegard of Bingen, Columba Aspexit, verse 3a
Columba Aspexit is about St.
Maximinus. While it appears to be in the form of a love poem, I don’t think Hildegard was expressing her love for Maximinus. I think this piece is about Maximinus love for the church and for God in general. This is in my opinion is seen in verse 3a, when she writes “O pigmentari qui estis in suavissima viriditate hortorum regis, ascendentes in altum quando sanctum sacrificium in arietibus perfecistis”. As shown in Example 2 above, verse 3a , also contains the highest range of notes in the entire piece of music. The lowest note in the section is G in the beginning of the first line, while the highest is D is performed near the end of the same line. I believe that Hildegard was trying to express his love for God by continuously rising
in
While listening to Gothic Voice’s rendition of the piece, I notice they made several decisions on interpreting the piece. The first decision that stuck out to me was the drone. Throughout the piece a drone is present. The drone adds an archaic and slightly creepy feel to the piece. While Hildegard encouraged instrumental accompaniment in her pieces, Columba Aspexit would have been performed with the use of voices only, as most of the music in the eleventh century was for voice. Second was the decision for the piece to the performed by female vocalists. In the eleventh century, women did not have as much power, influence, and rights that exist today. As stated previously, sequences such as Columba Aspexit was written to be performed in mass and for the monks and priest who ran the church.
If I was to perform this piece, the first thing I would take into is the singer range. Because of the high C and D notes, I would not perform this piece with basses. I would probably perform with tenors or baritones. Another performance decision I would make is the tempo. How fast or slow should be? There is also which notes should be stressed more to consider. How do you make a piece sound like it about 1000 years old? There are so many things I would have to consider before performing this piece.
Work Cited
Bent, I., & Pfauo, M. (n.d.). Hildegard of Bingen. in. Retrieved October 4, 2015. Retrieved from http://www.oxfordmusiconline.com/public/page/hildegardofbingen
Burkholder, J., Grout, D., & Palisca, C. (2010). Roman Liturgy. In A History of Western Music (Eighth ed., pp. 47-67). New York, New York: W.W. Norton & Company.
Hildegard of Bigen was a writer and composer born in 1098. While known for her writings, she was also heavily involved in the Church starting from an early age. Unlike the majority of the women who lived during the middle ages, she was in a rare position of power. She was able to advise many of the Church’s leaders. In addition, she taught many nuns and guided them through the teaching of Christianity.[1]
The sequence was a genre of music that was prevalent during the eleventh and twelveth century. As a part of the mass, sequences were performed after the Alleluia and before the Gospel. During the early eleventh century, the text of a sequence was derived from the Alleluia, but new texts were starting to be written. The music of a sequence is syllabic. Each sentence in the text is paired off with the exception of the first sentence. This makes the form of the music ABBCC or double verse. [2]
Looking at Victimae paschal laudes, a sequence that is performed in Easter, I noticed it follows all the rules of a typical eleventh century sequence. It follows the AABBCC…. form that a sequence follows. As far as text setting, Victimae paschal laudes also contains paired …show more content…
sentences with the first and last sentence being unpaired. The ranges of the notes are not very high. Each section does not go higher than an octave (section 1: D to A, section 2: A to D, section 3: A to A, section 4: D to D) as shown in example 1. Most of the music is in conjunct motion, or in stepwise direction. This piece does contain instances of disjunct motion.
Example 1: Victimae paschal laudes, verse 2 and 3
As a composer in the eleventh century, Hildegard of Bingen’s music was more thoroughly composed in comparison with other composers during that time. She was not afraid to cross the boundaries of composition during that time. Her sequences did not follow any rhyme schemes and when performed contained variations of the sequence’s double verse pattern. While most sequences were syllabic, Hildegard sequences are largely melismatic containing a multitude of notes for each syllable. In addition to the rhyme schemes, her sequences contained leaps that were greater the norm (seconds and thirds). In Columba Aspexit, as shown in Example 2, there are leaps of fourths and fifths. Example 2: Hildegard of Bingen, Columba Aspexit, verse 3a
Columba Aspexit is about St.
Maximinus. While it appears to be in the form of a love poem, I don’t think Hildegard was expressing her love for Maximinus. I think this piece is about Maximinus love for the church and for God in general. This is in my opinion is seen in verse 3a, when she writes “O pigmentari qui estis in suavissima viriditate hortorum regis, ascendentes in altum quando sanctum sacrificium in arietibus perfecistis”. As shown in Example 2 above, verse 3a , also contains the highest range of notes in the entire piece of music. The lowest note in the section is G in the beginning of the first line, while the highest is D is performed near the end of the same line. I believe that Hildegard was trying to express his love for God by continuously rising
in
While listening to Gothic Voice’s rendition of the piece, I notice they made several decisions on interpreting the piece. The first decision that stuck out to me was the drone. Throughout the piece a drone is present. The drone adds an archaic and slightly creepy feel to the piece. While Hildegard encouraged instrumental accompaniment in her pieces, Columba Aspexit would have been performed with the use of voices only, as most of the music in the eleventh century was for voice. Second was the decision for the piece to the performed by female vocalists. In the eleventh century, women did not have as much power, influence, and rights that exist today. As stated previously, sequences such as Columba Aspexit was written to be performed in mass and for the monks and priest who ran the church.
If I was to perform this piece, the first thing I would take into is the singer range. Because of the high C and D notes, I would not perform this piece with basses. I would probably perform with tenors or baritones. Another performance decision I would make is the tempo. How fast or slow should be? There is also which notes should be stressed more to consider. How do you make a piece sound like it about 1000 years old? There are so many things I would have to consider before performing this piece.
Work Cited
Bent, I., & Pfauo, M. (n.d.). Hildegard of Bingen. in. Retrieved October 4, 2015. Retrieved from http://www.oxfordmusiconline.com/public/page/hildegardofbingen
Burkholder, J., Grout, D., & Palisca, C. (2010). Roman Liturgy. In A History of Western Music (Eighth ed., pp. 47-67). New York, New York: W.W. Norton & Company.